General purpose presser-foot for sewing machines



7, 1961 R. E; JOHNSON 2,968,267

GENERAL PURPOSE PRESSER-FOOT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Feb. 21, 1957Fig.l Fig.2

5 INVENTOR.

Ra/ h E. Johnson WITNESS Fi 5 y p A TORNE Y GENERAL PURPOSE PRESSER-FOOTFOR SEWING MACHINES Ralph E. Johnson, Mountainside, NJ., assignor to TheSinger Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of NewJersey Filed Feb. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 641,726

6 Claims. (Cl. 112-235) This invention relates to sewing machines andmore particularly to a general purpose resser-foot which can be usedwhen performing many of the operations nor mally performed by a domestictype sewing machine, and the invention has as its primary object toprovide an improved and yet inexpensive device of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sewing machinepresser-foot having a sole plate which will allow the operator anoptimum view of the work being done.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sewing machinepresser-foot having a sole-plate which will yield fore, aft, left andright and, because of this feature, is able to climb over previouslysewn seams regardless of whether the sole-plate approaches the previousseam at a right or acute angle.

A still furtherobject of the invention is to provide a resser-foothaving a sole-plate which will yield sufliciently to allow a seam to besewn close to a previously sewn parallel seam.

Another object of the present invention is to provide, a sewing machinepresser-foot which can be used to do applique, to sew buttonholes, andas a cording foot.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear,the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements ofparts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawingsof a preferred embodiment of my invention which is for purposes ofillustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of theinvention. All such modifications which do not depart from the spirit ofthe invention are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims.

In the single sheet of drawings, which forms a part of thisspecification:

Fig. 1 is an elevational side view of a portion of a sewing machineprovided with a presser-foot embodying the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view taken along the broken line 22 ofFig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, taken along the line 3-3 ofFig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the resser-foot shown in Figs. 1 through3, and

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

The sewing machine illustrated in the drawings is provided with ahorizontal work support 16. A slant needle-bar 17 carries a conventionalneedle 18, and a slant presser-bar 19 carries a conventional screw 21which clamps, to the lower end of the presser-bar 19, the shank 22 of apresser-foot 23 embodying the present invention.

The presser-foot 23 is formed from two different pieces of material.Preferably the first or shank portion 22 of the presser-foot 23 is madefrom one-sixteenth inch rigid stock and-the upper portion of the shank22 is U-shaped in form as indicated by the numeral 24. The upper portion24 has an open ended slot 26 which, in a well known manner, receives theshank of the screw 21. The lower portion of the shank 22 is ofi-set at27 and n at the shank 22 terminates in 21 depending lug 28 provided withtwo depressions 29 which when formed cause rivets 31 to project from theside of the lug 28 opposite from the depressions 29.

Preferably a second or foot portion 42 of the presserfoot 23 is formedfrom one piece of flexible, high-carbon steel approximately twoone-hundredths inch (0.02) thick. The foot portion 42 has an upstandingarm 43 which by means of rivets 31 is attached to the lug 28. The lowerend of the arm 43, at a bend 44, is joined to one end of a horizontalflexible plate 46 which at its other end is joined, at a bend 47, to theupper end of a second upstanding arm 48. The bottom of the arm 48 isjoined, at a bend 49, to the rear side of a bridge 51. The right andleft ends (Fig. 5) of the bridge 51 are, by means of a pair ofdownwardly divergent legs 52 and 53, connected respectively midwaybetween the front and rear ends to the inner sides of a pair ofsole-plate members 56 and 57. The sole-plate member 56 has a heel 62 anda toe 64, whereas, the sole-plate member 57 has a heel 67 and a toe 69.The heels 62 and 67 and the toe 64 are the same width as the sole-platemembers 56 and 57.

The bridge 51, legs 52 and 53, and sole-plate members 56 and 57, form asubstantially H-shaped sole-plate for the presser-foot 23. To the frontinner side of the soleplate member 57 there is attached an arm 71, whichextends toward but not to the front inner side of the sole-plate member56-. The front or toe portion of the arm 71 is provided with a notch 72which may be used when following a pencil or other guide line as used incertain types of work, for example, applique. The rear portion of thearm '71 is provided with an upstanding.

lug 73 having a small hole 74 which may be used as a cord-guide during acording operation.

Operation of the subject presser-foot will be understood from the above.However, briefly stated the operation and advantages of the presser-foot23 are as follows:

(a) The presser-foot 23, being assembled from two simple parts, isinexpensive to produce.

(b) The sole-plate, which is made up of parts 51, 52, 53, 56 and 57 ismade of thin material, thereby making it easy for the operator to viewthe work being performed.

(0) Because the bridge 51, and the legs 52, 53 are made of thin flexiblematerial, the sole-plate members 56 and 57 yield independently of oneanother and in more than one direction. This permits the two toes 64-69to raise together while the two heels 62-67 are depressed. It alsopermits the toe 64 and the heel 67 to raise at the same time that thetoe 69 and the heel 62 are depressed. Also sole-plate member 56 maybecome slightly elevated while the sole-plate member 57 remainsdepressed or vice versa. Also, due to fiexure in the bends 44 and 47 andthe plate 46 the whole sole-plate of the presser-foot 23 can yield as aunit. From this it can be seen that the subject presser-foot will yieldsufficiently to climb over any obstruction met during normal sewingoperations, and that the presser-foot 23 is suitable as a generalpurpose presser-foot.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim hereinis:

1. In a general purpose presser-foot, a shank and a thin flexible foot,said foot comprising at least one elongated sole-plate having a toedisposed in one direction, a heel disposed in the other direction, and amain sole-plate portion connecting said toe and heel; a flexible bridgeelevated above and integrally attached to said main soleplate portion ata location between said toe and heel and in such a manner that the saidtoe and heel extend freely in opposite directions beyond the locationwhere said elevated bridge is attached to the main sole-plate portion;and means attaching said bridge to said shank.

2. In a general purpose presser-foot, a shank and a thinflexible foot,said foot comprising a pair of elongated sole-plates each having a toedisposed in one direction, a heel disposed in the other direction and ineach case having a main sole-plate portion integrally connecting saidtoe and heel; a flexible bridge elevated above and positioned betweensaid main sole-plate portions and having opposite ends integrallyattached to said main soleplate portions at locations between the toesand heels of said sole-plates and in such a manner that said toes andheels extend freely in opposite directions beyond the locations wheresaid elevated bridge is attached to said main sole-plate portions; andmeans integrally formed with said bridge, said means attachingsaidbridge to said shank.

3. In a general purpose presser-foot, a shank and a thin flexible foot,said foot comprising a pair of elongated sole-plates each having a toedisposed in one direction, a heel disposed in the other direction and ineach case having a main sole-plate portion integrally connecting saidtoe and heel; a flexible bridge elevated above and positioned betweensaid main sole-plate portions; a leg integrally attached to each of saidmain sole-plate portions at locations between the toes and heels of saidsole-plates and in such a manner that said toes and heels extend freelyin opposite directions beyond said legs, said legs being integrallyattached'to opposite ends of said elevated bridge; and an upstanding armintegrally formed with said bridge, said arm attaching said bridge tosaid shank.

4. In a general purpose presser-foot, a shank and a thin flexible foot,said foot comprising a pair of elongated parallel sole-plates, eachhaving a main sole-plate portion; a flexible bridge elevated above andpositioned between said main sole-plate portions; a leg integrallyattached to the center of each of said main sole-plate portions atlocations between the ends thereof, said legs extending above saidsole-plate portion and being integrally formed with opposite ends ofsaid elevated bridge; an upstanding arm integrally formed with saidbridge; a plate integrally formed on one end of said arm; and a secondarm integrally formed on the other end of said plate, said second armflexibly connecting said bridge to said shank.

5. In a general purpose presser-foot, a shank portion, a depending lugforming part of said shank portion, and afoot portion, said foot portionhaving a verticalflexible arm secured to said depending lug, ahorizontal flexible plate having one of its edges integrally connectedto the lower'end ofsaid vertical flexible arm, a second verticalflexible arm integrally connected at its upper end to one edge of saidhorizontal flexible plate and depending therefrom, a flexible bridgemember having one of its edges integrally connected to.the lower end ofsaid second vertical flexible arm, a pair of flexible dependingdivergent legs, oneof said legs being integrally connected to one sideof said flexible bridge member and the other of said legs beingintegrally connected to the other side o'fsaid flexible bridge member, apair of flexible soleplate members, and means integrally connecting thelower end of one of said flexible depending divergent legs to one ofsaid-sole-plate members, and means integrally connecting the lower endof the other of said flexible depending divergent legs to the other saidsole-plate members, both connections being made at locations between therespectiveends ofsaid sole-plate members, and in such amanner that saidsole-plate members extend freely in opposite directions beyond thelocations where said legs are connected to said sole-plate members.

6. A presser-foot comprising in combination a shank, a pair of spacedelongated sole-plates, a flexible bridge elevated above and positionedbetween said sole plates, means forintegrally securing one end of saidbridge to one of said sole-plates at a location between its ends so thatthe ends of said sole-plate freely extend forwardly and rearwardly ofsaid bridge, means for integrally securing the other end of said bridgeto the other of said sole-plates at a location between its ends, so thatthe ends of said other sole-plate freely extend forwardly and rearwardlyof said bridge, and means integrally formed with said bridge forattaching a central part of said bridge to said shank, said presser footbeing so constructed and arranged that one sole-plate member can becomeslightly elevated while at the same time the other sole-plate member canbecome slightly depressed or vice versa.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.183,390 Johnson Aug. 19, 1958 445,912 Toof Feb. 3, 1891 601,402 RichardsMar. 29, 1898 770,008 Holderman Sept. 13, 1904 1,211,340 Page Jan. 2,1917 1,616,278 Parks Feb. 1, 1927 2,184,604 Ray Dec. 26, 1939 2,737,914Hofgesang Mar. 13, 1956 2,804,037 Connors Aug. 27, 1957

